


Nightmares and those who make them fade away

by Justafewthingstosay



Series: Super soldiers being super dads [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Adopted Jesse, Alternate Universe - Human, Cuddling, Domestic, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, They are being dads, They are the best dads, Young Jesse McCree, because give my boys happiness, they have a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 02:18:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13871007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justafewthingstosay/pseuds/Justafewthingstosay
Summary: When they were still in the army, they never imagined that they could have a life like this, but now, lying in their bed, an adopted son down the hall, life was good. That is if Jesse would actually talk to them, but the boy was shy and reserved.





	Nightmares and those who make them fade away

Gabe came into their bedroom and yawned. His husband was standing next to their bed, pulling off his black sweater. Jack shot the other man a tired smile and started to change into his pyjamas.

“Did you tuck Jesse in?” the blonde asked and Gabe gave a tired nod. They adopted the small boy around three months ago and they still waited for him to really open up. The seven-year old lived almost all of his life in the foster care system and he never really had a home. He was shy, almost never talked and didn’t let them in. He had a lot of problems, they knew that the woman at the adoption centre actually told them that he was going to be a bad case in the future and that they shouldn’t adopt him in the first place. He would be too much work, she had said. Gabe would be convinced that Jack insisted that they take him in out of spite, but he could tell that Jack fell in love with the small brown-haired boy that spoke almost no English and didn’t communicate with any of the other kids as soon as he saw him.

Jack was someone that never gave up, he had enough hope for the world and that was just one of the many things that Gabe loved about him.

“He didn’t talk today,” Gabe mentioned after he changed as well and Jack had his head on his chest. He slowly pushed his fingers through Jack’s blond hair and only stopped when Jack moved to look up at him. Those blue eyes meeting his brown. His husband's mouth was pulled into a soft and small smile.

“Tomorrow, he’ll probably talk tomorrow. We just have to give him enough space to actually open up.” Gabe couldn’t help but smile back. Jack could lift the entire world with that smile of his. He nodded and started to push his hand through Jack’s hair again, the owner of the blonde hair closing his eyes and sighing happily.

“He took a real liking to Senu, didn’t he?” Gabe mentioned, which caused Jack to nod softly.  
Senu was their Rottweiler-German shepherd mix. She was a beautiful and calm dog that almost took Jesse in as her own. When he would get sad, she wouldn’t leave his side. You could tell that she was a trained support dog for Jack’s and Gabe’s PTSD.

“She helps him, I think,” Jack mentioned quietly. “I mean, she doesn’t even sleep in our bed anymore, because she is always with him.”

“It is nice to not have to vacuum our bed every morning,” Gabe chuckled softly. “Maybe..” Gabe started and Jack lifted his head.

“You want to get him a dog, don’t you?” he asked with a huff. Gabe immediately looked away and pushed his hands through his curls without looking at Jack.

“I mean, we don’t have to, but it might help him, you know. Learn responsibility and all of that stuff,” He murmured and Jack out his head on Gabe’s chest again.

“Maybe in a few years, but not right now. First of all, he still doesn’t talk to us and also, I’m super tired, sunshine and I would like to get at least a few hours of sleep, before I have to get up again,” Jack said softly and Gabe nodded. He shut the light of quickly and bent down to kiss Jack on the top of his head.

“Let’s sleep.” They fell asleep quickly and hoped for an uninterrupted sleep, which didn't happen often, due to their chronic nightmares, but they could at least hope.

 

* * *

 

  
When their bedroom door opened in the middle of the night, Gabe was awake in seconds, his first instinct was to grab a gun from under his pillow that wasn’t there anymore.

He heard a startled breath and turned on the small light on his nightstand.

In the doorway was Jesse, his eyes red from crying, one of his small hands rubbing his eyes and the other one was buried in Senu’s fur with a death grip.

Nightmare, Gabe immediately thought, Senu was trained to bring Jack to Gabe when he had a nightmare, so she probably just did the same when Jesse had one.

 _“You okay?_ ” Gabe asked softly in Spanish and the boy almost flinched backwards at the sound of the man’s voice.

  
He shook his head, not looking at Gabe.

 _“Nightmare?”_ He asked, and the small boy nodded. Gabe gave a sad smile and tapped on the bed twice, a sign for Senu to jump up. She did exactly that and Gabe gave Jesse an inviting smile when he was suddenly standing alone in the doorway.

Jesse weighted his options for a second and then slowly crawled onto the bed, sitting with Senu at the end of the bed, across from Gabe, but he still didn’t look at him.

 _“Was it bad? A bad nightmare I mean?”_ He asked, talking quietly to not wake Jack. He had to get up early tomorrow to open the restaurant and Gabe wanted him to sleep as much as possible.

Jesse just nodded, petting the dog that curled up and was already almost sleeping. Gabe smiled as he saw how carefully Jesse watched Senu sleep.

 _“Do you know why she brought you to me?”_ When Jesse shook his head and Gabe continued on, _“Dad and I both have a lot of nightmares too, you know?”_ At those words, Jesse looked at Gabe for the first time that night. It made him happy that the boy finally looked at him that he continued on. _“And when Dad here,”_ He pointed to Jack, who was still sleeping, _“has a nightmare or a flashback, he needs me to help him calm down again, so we trained her to bring him to me when he does.”_

The small boy looked at him with confused eyes. _“Dad has nightmares? But he’s so strong,”_ he spoke quietly, looking over at Jack, confusion drawn all over his face.

Gabe almost cried at that moment, not only did Jesse talk, he also called Jack “Dad”. Jack wouldn’t believe him in the morning, he was sure of it.

 _“Being strong doesn't save you from nightmares. Dad has them and I do too. We both have a lot of nightmares, but that’s why we love each other so much because we know how to help each other, bottling up what happens in those dreams is not good. It will hurt you in the end. So Dad and I always talk about the nightmares we have and we protect each other from the monsters in our dreams,”_ He smiled softly. _“And we will protect you too if you let us.”_

After those words, Jesse moved closer, crawling slowly over to hug Gabe and Gabe hugged back. Then out of nowhere, he quietly started to speak. His voice careful and scared. _“In my nightmare, there was a big man, he wanted to hit me. He used the work at the house I used to live in. He didn’t like me talking loud so he hit me. I was running from him, but I couldn’t get away and I-I -I_ ” He stifled a cry into Gabe’s shoulder and hugged him tighter.

Gabe started to rub circles on his back and held him. _“It’s okay, Jesse, he can’t catch you anymore,”_

Jesse sobbed quietly and pulled back. Tears were falling out of his eyes quickly and he didn’t bother wiping them away. _“How do you know that?”_

Gabe smiled and carefully wiped the tears away after he realised that Jesse wouldn’t flinch away from his hand. “ _Because Dad and I are here to protect you. We won’t let anyone hurt you, okay?”_

Jesse smiled and it was one of the first times that Gabe actually saw him smile. _“Thank you, Papi,”_ he said happily and Gabe could have started crying right there.

_“That’s what family is for,”_

When Jack suddenly made a small groan and wiped his eyes they both looked down at him.  
“Gabe, are you okay? Why are you up?” he murmured, his voice rough with sleep.

Gabe smiled at Jesse and ruffled Jack’s hair. “Chiquito had a nightmare, he’s sleeping with us tonight,” at that Jack sat up carefully and rubbed his eyes until he saw Jesse hugged into a soft embrace by Gabe and his heart was almost soaring because of happiness.

 _“I’m sleeping here?”_ Jesse asked carefully, but with a happy undertone.

Gabe looked at Jack, who smiled out a small _“No one should be forced to sleep alone after they had a nightmare,”_

Gabe also smiled at Jesse and whispered _“Only if you want to, and be careful, Dad can get huggy,”_

That comment forced a chuckle out of the small boy and Jack hit Gabe playfully. _“Says you,”_

Jack and Gabe chuckled softly and only stopped when Jesse yawned loudly.

 _“Alright, let’s get back to sleep,”_ Jack said happily and they all laid back down. Jesse between them, holding onto Jack’s shirt, while being hugged by Gabe. The small boy fell asleep first and Gabe and Jack smiled at each other over the small boys head.

“I have to go to the orphanage tomorrow,” Gabe whispered, pushing his hand through Jesse’s unruly hair.

Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. “Why’s that?”

“Jesse had a dream of one of the caretakers hitting him and I swear to god I’ll ruin that guy's life,” He said while looking down at the small boy. “No one gets to hurt our family without consequences. I’ll report him and tell them what he did. I don’t want another kid to suffer like our Conejito had to,”

Jack’s face suddenly scrunched up in anger. “You should do that, if I had to go, I’d probably bust that guy's kneecaps,” he said quietly.

“That’s why I am going, mi alma,” Gabe smiled softly.

Jack yawned loudly and Gabe almost snorted. “Let’s sleep, you need sleep as much as our little conejito here,”

Jack closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “I love you”

“I love you too, Jack,” Gabe smiled and they fell asleep quickly.

After that Jesse came into their room more often when he had a nightmare. He smiled at them more and actually talked, even if it wasn’t often or much. But their little family grew closer and closer every day and soon Jesse shared everything with his dads.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a bad day, so I decided to write some fluff  
> Hope you enjoy it!  
> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated
> 
> If you enjoyed it, please consider buying me a [coffee](http://ko-fi.com/pissoffimrad)  
> 


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